so it's the pre-amp that's clipping?It doesn't. The pre-amp is in between.
so it's the pre-amp that's clipping?It doesn't. The pre-amp is in between.
It's damage control: we agree that manual may be misleading, even the label LINE OUT may be uninspired but the product... the product is perfect. An errata to the manual is so cheap.It is interesting to see that Hagel Music Systems liked this rather critical post.
Agreed, Hegel is firmly in the old-school HIFI mindset, which sites such as this are very effective to expose. Lazy engineering is a thing of the past.I think Hegel currently have the previous 'Schiit mindset' where 'good enough is good enough' for most people. Schiit have now shown they have the chops to make great sounding gear which also performs seriously well, so proving to me it CAN be done (sadly, deliveries to the UK are currently fraught with issues, but hopefully that will improve and the prices aren't hugely higher than in the US home market it seems). I do hope they can sort out the tech shortcomings in this baseline model as I think the visuals are fine.
I see no proof that the dac was clipping in coaxial tests even if volume was set at 95. In fact, the 72 SINAD result is expected of 80db DAC into a 82db amplifier, which are best case scenarios for DAC and AMP and indicative of real world performance.I'll post it again... the DAC does not clip at all using the Hegel as it is supposed to be used. It is a bit noisy (as noisy as the Razer dongle) and not of great quality but the amplifier (which is the limiting factor) lands in the 'green zone' so perfectly usable.
Because of the high gain the device has it will amplify noise from the DAC when the volume is set to 96.
In practice you'll probably never go beyond 50.
no. In Hegel's own words:so it's the pre-amp that's clipping?
When the power amplifier starts clipping, this will reflect in the RCA pre out as well
no. In Hegel's own words:
I missed that, thank you for clairifying. It's quite the big deal. Did @amirm explain why he did that?C: digital input level was attenuated by 24dB (which is a LOT)
Actually, that is an interesting question Given the fact that there is no global feedback and there are multiple chained gain stages all with local feedback, the question then is why clipping at the end makes the start also distorted? Possibly one of the electronics guru's can shed some more detailed light on this?Which is brings me back to the block diagram, how? Dodgy power circuitry?
I see no proof that the dac was clipping in coaxial tests even if volume was set at 95. In fact, the 72 SINAD result is expected of 80db DAC into a 82db amplifier, which are best case scenarios for DAC and AMP and indicative of real world performance.
I missed that, thank you for clairifying. It's quite the big deal. Did @amirm explain why he did that?
I still don't really get it, he can still get 5W output by having full amplitude digital signal and bring the volume knob on the amplifier down.The plot is not a real world situation for 5W (in 'normal usage') but the result of the standardized test method used by Amir (which makes sense) but in that particular plot made it look worse than it is when you were using it 'normal' and SINAD would be amp determined in real world situations.
I still don't really get it, he can still get 5W output by having full amplitude digital signal and bring the volume knob on the amplifier down.
It's very counterintuitive and frankly kind of borderline malicious tbh.
"Perfect" is not the way I will describe an amplifier that measures and behaves that badly.It's damage control: we agree that manual may be misleading, even the label LINE OUT may be uninspired but the product... the product is perfect. An errata to the manual is so cheap.
I have. Volume control was kept the same as analog test and I adjusted the digital value to get the same 5 watts. It is the only way to get apples vs apples comparison of digital versus analog. The analog value was also quite small so digital had to be as well (given the 29 dB gain set on the amplifier).I missed that, thank you for clairifying. It's quite the big deal. Did @amirm explain why he did that?
@amirm was feeding a digital signal and measuring the analogue outputs. How else should we supposed to use the amp???I'll post it again... the DAC does not clip at all using the Hegel as it is supposed to be used.
Once again: we are using standardized THX gain level for an amplifier which is 29 dB. That is the only gain setting I test an amplifier at. Whether input is digital or analog, it is tested at the same gain level.I still don't really get it, he can still get 5W output by having full amplitude digital signal and bring the volume knob on the amplifier down.
I'm one of those people who complain about this, so i get you.people would probably just complain that the differing gain levels invalidates the comparison between the different amp types.
I purchased a H95 about 3 months ago. Auditioned in store on the same speakers I have at home (PMC Twenty5.22) and across the 3 amplifiers I was comparing it was my preference. I brought it home, hooked it up and was disappointed. The bass (which was lovely and full in store) seemed absent. I hooked up a Marantz Slimline AVR and it sounded better. Decided to give it some time and it improved massively and reached a point where I was very happy with it. In fact I now love it. I was always skeptical about burn in, but in this case it made a big difference. Since then it's had a lot of use and I've spent many an evening chilling out and thoroughly enjoying it.
So then I saw this review and my first reaction was not good. It's now been several days and with time and continued use of the amplifier I've decided I simply don't care. I loved how the amp sounded before and I continue to love it now and prefer it to previous amplifiers I've owned (Marantz Pearl Lite and a Cambridge Audio CXA80).
With that in mind, if a reviewer such as Tarun, John Darko or anyone else review and like the sound and report it that way, then so be it. It's going to be their subjective opinion. Few YouTube reviewers do measurements, so unless are measuring and reporting on performance figures you will be getting a subjective review.
I want to make it clear that I'd have loved the measurements to be top shelf to back up my expectations and listening impressions, but they didn't. I also don't mind John Darko or Tarun generally, but I don't take anything that they or any other reviewer say as gospel (for a range of reasons I won't go into here for fear of starting an audiophile ethernet cable debate - although I think most people on this site would agree with me that it's BS).
Long story short I auditioned the H95 and made my own mind up before purchasing it. I will be happily keeping it. Enjoy the music folks.
He's telling you not to do that while cranking the analogue volume pot of the amplifier all the way up to 95%.Are you telling us that the digital input should never be fed full scale signal?